


hinges in a machine

by scarsimp



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: And coming to terms with it, Gen, Post-Canon, Roy is implied to already be executed, and the fact that she, but riza is on trial for ishval, did bad things, dont feel bad for roy or riza, feel bad for ed, they're on trial for a reason remember, this is ed meeting her in prison
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:07:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25761103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarsimp/pseuds/scarsimp
Summary: Ed had always felt too small, but never before now had he felt so inconsequential.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 23





	hinges in a machine

**Author's Note:**

> It's SAD I'm SORRY. Also. This is not meant to make you feel sorry for roy or riza— they did bad things and are getting justice for those bad things. You're supposed to feel bad for ED

The doors creaked when Ed was allowed in— metal and wood reluctant to move in the biting air, bars and bars of iron looming around him like demons. Eyes glared balefully at him as the man directed him through the winding hallway, and Ed felt something in his knee crack just like a hinge.  _ It wasn't oiled enough _ .

Ed had always felt too  _ small _ , but never before now had he felt so inconsequential. 

Lieuten— Riza's cell was just as small and expressionless as the rest and as he waited for her to look up from the floor he wondered where Black Hayate was. Her hair was chopped short again, cropped close to her neck in a way scratched at her nape and stuck up. Appearances didn't matter when you were a criminal, that much was quickly obvious. 

She blinked big, chocolate brown eyes at him after a moment, sad eyes that made Ed want to run away.  He was glad Winry's were blue. He wished his weren't such a close color.  He forced his lips into a smile, tried not to wince when hers moved and cracked; raw pink flesh again pallid white and Ed knew Mus—  _ Roy  _ was rolling in his grave over how haggard she must've felt. 

Ed wondered how Hughes would've felt about this. He was friends with Riza too. 

"Hey," he said, voice slicing the silence like a blade, like a gunshot, like a snap. It didn't spark something in the air, didn't light a fire in her eyes. If anything she looked like she was drowning under the weight of the greeting, pursing her lips and staying silent for a moment. 

"Hello." She eventually said, sitting fully up on the thin bed she was supposed to sleep on —  _ she was too old for that.  _ She swallowed once; drowning under the liquid blood of her sins and red eyes gleaming like rubies, philosophers' stones, like fresh blood on sand. Some part of Ed wanted to grip her ratty grey t _ - _ shirt and beg her to stay—  _ "don't leave! Don't leave me like they did! _ — and another part of him wanted the war to end. 

The war wouldn't end until the victor could tell the story. Amestris wasn't the victor anymore. Had never been the victor. The atmosphere felt like jelly and they didn't say anything else to spread it thin, Riza sitting still, like she was already dead, and Ed standing and contemplating if this was really justice. 

His throat stung from the cold air and his face was cold, nose numb and ears flushed against it. His eyelashes were wet but he didn't remember rubbing his face. Riza's eyes were dry and crying at the same time and Ed once again wondered if Roy had cried too, where Black Hayate was, whether Jean missed them or not. Wondered if Elicia had noticed their absence yet. 

The doors sobbed on the way out. The air smelt like water and salt.  _ They weren't oiled enough.  _


End file.
